34 Friday, June 6, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Lerner Focuses on Jewish Poverty
at Communal Service Conference
By SAMUEL LERNER
(Cipyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)
sures of what people really
need to live on.
In Detroit, when we de-
cided in early 1974 to get
Bnai Moshe Youth Slate
Year-End Shabat Luncheon
Cong. Bnai Moshe's junior
congregation, for youth age
9-13, will sponsor a year-end
youth luncheon following 10
a.m. services on June 14 in
the synagogue. Officers and
members of the group will
be honored for their attend-
ance during the year, and
special attendance pins will
i awarded.
Kadima (grades 7-8), Hal-
utzim (grades 5-6), Giborim
(grades 3-4), Rishonim
(grades 1-2) and Story Hour
members are invited to at-
tend. For advance reserva-
tions, call the synagogue
office before 5 p.m.,
548-9000.
Junior congregation will
begin its first summer ses-
sion with Shabat services
June 21. Services will be
held 10 a.m. Saturdays in
the board room continue
through the summer. Ka-
dima and Halutzim groups
will also hold a gathering
during the summer.
Kadima (grades 7 - 8) will
take its members on a
hayride and campfire Sun-
day, meeting 1:15 p.m. in
the youth lounge. For res-
ervations, contact adviser
Sharon Landau, 545-6951.
Halutzim (grades 5-6) will
have an activity June 19. For
information contact adviser
Diane Goldring, 851-3728.
Talit and Tefilin will hold
its last regular bowling
competition Sunday, follow-
ing 8:30 a.m. services and
breakfast. Awards will be
presented June 15 at a
father and son tournament.
For information on youth
activities at Bnai Moshe,
contact Danny Kaplan at
the synagogue office,
548-9000
Our experience in our pov-
erty program so far reveals
a startling discovery: that
the majority of families as-
sisted in the "poverty pro-
gram" were not the aged but
were younger or nliddle-
aged families with children.
Some conclusions based
on our agency's experience:
• As an agency becomes
known in the community as
ready and willing to help
low-income families, more
of the marginal families
with children are willing to
apply for assistance.
• The aged tend to be
taken care of first when an
agency is establishing a fi-
nancial assistance program
but younger families are
referred or apply once the
initial outreach has oc-
curred to reach "the aged
poor."
• A regular, well publi-
cized program of financial
assistance will continue to
draw referrals from the
general community.
• Once an agency and a
federation make a decision
to embark on a financial
assistance program that
handles not only emer-
gency needs but will provide
regular monthly or periodic
grants to "financially
strapped" families, then
they can expect that all
costs will rise steadily over
the years.
• A major conclusion is
that programs of financial
subsidy by the Jewish com-
munity for the poor and
marginal income families
are desirable and needed,
but it should be recognized
in advance that it involves
steadily rising costs in
money and staff. Planning
for such increased long-
term expenditures is a ne-
cessity.
Another growing trend
among British Jewry,
especially with the youth,
according to Mrs. Jacob-
son, is an increased inter-
est in aliya.
Mrs. Jacobson, who went
to Britain to address meet-
ings of the Zionist Federa-
tion, the Conference of Jew-
ish Organizations (COJO)
and the Soviet Jewry Com-
mittee, said that she found
that British Jewry wants to
know how American Jewry
is fighting Arab propa-
ganda, boycott tactics and
blackmail.
Arab propaganda, she
observed, has grown to an
alarming extent on Britain's
campuses. Jewish students
are a small minority on the
campuses.
Danish Team
Trains in Israel
COPENHAGEN (JTA) —
The Danish Football Union
has voted to send the na-
tional team to winter train-
ing camp in Israel in Febru-
ary 1976.
The Union chose Israel
against Florence, Italy.
During the camp, the Dan-
ish team will play against
the Israeli team.
o
METE
41
cis
cis
cis
For Young Men Eight to Eighty
•
Father's Day June 15th
For Everything From
TO
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WALKSU ITS 4s
WALKSHORTS 4E 4 '
CASUAL To DRESS
Let Princeton Be Your Headquart-
ers For Dad, FATHER'S DAY JUNE
15, 1975.
We have a huge selection of sport-
shirts, long and short sleeve, from
small to XXL, by famous brand such
as Puritan, Izod, D'avila, Givenchy,
Hathaway, Sero, Etc.
For matching trousers
Casual & Dress
from sizes 28 to 48, reg., longs,
shorts.
We carry Jaymar, Champion Ben-
sol, Glen Oaks, Farah, Levi and
Many Others.
43
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Los Angeles Gets
Downtown Chapel
LOS ANGELES (JTA) —
The first downtown Jewish
chapel for business district
employers and workers,
commercial visitors and
tourists will open for High
Holy Day worship, starting
Sept. 6, according to Meyer
E. Hersch, president of
Temple Beth Am, the spon-
soring institution. Hersch
said the religious facility
had been made a key goal of
his administration because
of the "complex commercial
pressures of our day."
But, she pointed out, the
Jewish leaders in the prov-
inces of England are frus-
trated because "they are not
involved sufficiently in deci-
sion-making of the Zionist
organizations and Jewish
boards."
49444444•444+4444•44444•42+4,4•444,44
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SAMUEL LERNER
By these standards, a typ-
ical family of four is ex-
pected to live on $3,000 to
$5,000 a year (depending on
which agency sets the stan-
dard), whereas a recent
study by the U.S. Labor
Department's Bureau of
Labor Statistics, calculated
the cost for a family of four
living on the low-cost
"austerity" budget as $9,200
a year. Note that these
lower budget families are
assumed to live in inexpen-
sive rental housing, use pub-
lic transportation or drive a
used car, and do most of
their own cooking and
washing.
Without dwelling on sta-
tistics, it is important to
accept the reality that there
are many more people
struggling to make ends
meet than we are willing to
admit or that can be subsi-
dized directly by the Jewish
family agencies or Jewish
Part of the problem is federations from their lim-
ited funds and resources.
the definition of poverty.
Some Jewish communi-
For too long we have
been lulled into accepting ties, like Toronto and Balti-
the definition of poverty more, have for many years
put out by the state and lo- spent large sums of money
cal public assistance agen- yearly to help the poor in di-
cies or the low standards rect financial assistance
set by the Department of grants. Others, like Detroit,
Health, Education and have instituted the latter
Welfare for Supplemental programs within the past
Security Income of Social two years.
S-ci!urity grants as mea-
NEW YORK (JTA) — A
new sense of awareness to-
ward Israel, Zionism and
Jewish life is a growing
trend among British Jewry
in the big cities of England
as well as in the provinces,
according to Mrs. Charlotte
Jacobson, chairman of the
American Section of the
World Zionist Organization.
"In meetings I had in
Newcastle, Glasgow,
Manchester and Leeds,
where the Jewish communi-
ties are relatively small, I
found highly qualified Jew-
ish leadership and a Jewish
community which is very
Zionist-minded and willing
to do things which concern
Jewish life," Mrs. Jacobson
said.
involved on a more inten-
sive scale to provide direct
financial assistance to
families, we asked for and
received an increased
grant from the Jewish
Welfare Federation from
$7,000 to $50,000, and for
1975, Federation granted
us $75,000. This in addition
to the various ways we
currently subsidize clients
through homemaker serv-
ice, housing relocation for
the elderly, kosher meals-
on-wheels, child place-
ment services and low-fee
or no-fee counseling serv-
ices.
(Editor's note: Samuel
Lerner is the executive di-
rector of the Jewish Fam-
ily and Children's Service
of Detroit. The feature
here is a summary of his
presentation at the 77th
annual meeting of the Na-
tional Conference of Jew-
ish Communal Service at
Grossinger's Hotel Sunday
through Wednesday.
For too long we have lived
with the myths that there
are no Jewish poor; if they
do exist, their numbers are
so small as to be insignifi-
cant and not important
enough to be considered as a
serious problem; the poor or
near-poor are concentrated
almost exclusively among
the aged; "the Jews take
care of their own" and,
therefore, have solved this
problem to the satisfaction
of the givers and receivers of
assistance.
Unfortunately, none of
these guilt-relieving myths
are true. There are Jews
who are poor, in significant
numbers, not only among
the aged but in younger and
middle-aged families with
children. And we have not,
as Jewish communities,
"taken care of our own" to
any marked degree.
However, we are begin-
ning to wake up to the prob-
lem and in certain cities
community action has be-
gun and some help is being
g,:v.en. But there is still gen-
eral acceptance of the above
myths and too little direct
financial support to the poor
and marginal income fami-
lies.
British Jews' Trouble Familiar
ALSO SEE OUR HUGE GIFT BAR
FOR THE MAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING
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RINCETON
For Young Men Eight to Eighty
Old
Orchard Shopping Plaza
Maple at Orchard Lake Rds.
851-3660-- West Bloomfield
Mon., Thurs., Fri. 9-9
Tues., Wed., Sat. til 6
MASTER CHARGE
BANKAMERICARD
PRINCETON CHARGE
4s
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